Virginia college wrestling ascent reflected in rankings

Dave Fairbank, dfairbank@dailypress.com | 757-247-4637

HAMPTON — Steve Martin checked the weekly college wrestling rankings and saw something that would have been unfathomable just a few years ago.

Virginia Tech, Virginia and Martin's Old Dominion team were ranked in the top 25 of the USA Today coaches' poll. Only Pennsylvania had more Division I schools in the rankings (5) than Virginia's three.

"I think it's phenomenal, all three programs ranked in the top 25," Martin said. "You're not going to find many states where you have three programs ranked in the top 25. It's great for the sport of wrestling in Virginia. Probably not that many folks out there know that."

All three are competing at this weekend's Virginia Duals, along with state programs VMI and the Apprentice School. The annual wrestlefest at the Hampton Coliseum exposes them to high school prospects from around the state and region, and provides a built-in recruiting and evaluation experience.

The ascent of ODU, Virginia Tech and Virginia has included All-Americans at the NCAA championships — what the wrestling community refers to as "getting on the podium" — as well as team and individual wins over nationally-ranked opponents and a string of nationally-ranked recruiting classes.

"We can get guys on the podium, but we don't take that for granted," Martin said. "Tech's supposed to get guys on the podium, but that's not for granted, either. We've got them, Tech's got them, U.Va.'s got them. That's where we're at right now. Seven, eight, nine years ago, that was unheard of. All three programs were garbage, they weren't even good."

Virginia still lags behind wrestling hotbeds such as Pennsylvania, New Jersey, California, Ohio and Iowa. But the ascent of the state's three major college wrestling programs speaks to commitment and coaching at each school.

"It starts with the administration actually wanting to win. That sounds cliché, but it really comes down to getting actual support," said Virginia coach Steve Garland, a former U.Va. All-American in his seventh season at his alma mater. "When I was in school as a student-athlete at U.Va., we weren't fully funded, our facilities were horrible, and they didn't pay the staff. Other than that, they had a lot going for them."

Virginia, ranked 19th this week, now has the maximum number of scholarships available (9.9). Its facilities have been overhauled and updated, and its staff competitively compensated. Likewise ODU and Virginia Tech.

The Monarchs opened a wrestling annex off of the Jim Jarrett Administration Building several years ago that includes locker rooms and coaches' offices.

Virginia Tech wrestling moved onto the third floor of the football team's palatial locker room facility, adjacent to Cassell Coliseum. Coach Kevin Dresser called it "a top-10 facility, nationally."

The Hokies are 10th in this week's poll and have been the most consistently successful of the three in recent years. They tied for 11th at last year's NCAA meet, the program's best-ever finish, and had All-Americans in Devin Carter and Pete Yates. Two years ago, they finished second at the prestigious NWCA/Cliff Keen Duals at Las Vegas and ranked sixth in the nation in the dual meet poll, also with multiple NCAA qualifiers.

Dresser, in his seventh year with the Hokies, was a national champion at Iowa and a college teammate of Martin's. He came to Virginia and built prep wrestling powers at Grundy and Christiansburg before getting the Tech job.

"I've always thought that Virginia Tech was a gold mine," he said. "I didn't expect the moon when I went in there. You kind of have to earn your keep a little bit, and I wanted to earn my keep. I'm not one of those guys who goes in and asks for the moon. I'd rather prove it and show it and then go ask for some things."

Martin, son of state wrestling patriarch Billy Martin, is in his ninth year at ODU after building a national prep school power at Great Bridge. He has overhauled his roster a couple of times and established a culture of excellence and accountability.

"We recruit good kids that will fit in our program and are good off the mat and work hard," Martin said. "We have that work ethic established now, where it's pretty much remote control. Everybody knows what's expected. The kids enforce the rules. I don't even have to do it any more. Somebody screws up, they take care of it."

The success of all three programs gets them into more homes and schools to recruit top-shelf talent. All three recruit the state's best prospects, but they must cast a wider net since Virginia doesn't have the talent to sustain three nationally-ranked programs.

"Recruiting gets easier for us every year, in terms of getting kids on campus," Dresser said. "You still have to work really hard to get the blue-chip kids, so it's something that you can never, ever take your eye off of. It's a work ethic thing. Just like we do in the wrestling room, you have to work that hard out of the wrestling room."

Though all three state schools butt heads in recruiting, they have different selling points. At Virginia, it's history and academic reputation. Tech has great facilities, a big campus and a broad curriculum. ODU has a diverse student body in an urban setting and it's close to the beach, which appeals to some Midwestern recruits.

Garland lays out the grade-point averages of everyone on the roster during home recruiting visits, along with former wrestlers' graduate degrees and the jobs they landed after graduation. He tells kids what's expected, athletically and academically.

"We like to work hard and we're trying to win at a very high level, but at the same time we're also putting just as much emphasis on the academic side," he said. "A kid has to be the right fit. I've actually heard Division I coaches tell kids, 'What are you worried about your academics for? You have the rest of your life to worry about that. We can make you a national champ.' That's sad to me. It really breaks my heart, because in the end, what are we really teaching these kids?"

Tech and Virginia are well placed in the ACC, which has improved and figures to be even better with the addition of Pittsburgh, another nationally-ranked program. After departing the Colonial Athletic Association, ODU wrestling will compete as an affiliate member of the Mid-American Conference, a stout collective that should enhance all parties.

"The next step for all of us — we all have the same goals — is individual national championships," Garland said. "We want to have national championships. We've all had All-Americans, but we want to have guys win championships. I took second, I got close, but we haven't had a national champion, individually, and we need one. I think that's everybody's focus right now."